سید محمد روحانی

In general, there are two main issues in the possibility of classifying Hinduism in the category of "the People of the Book" or "the ones who have pseudo-book". First issue is whether "the People of the Book" are limited to only the four religions whose names are mentioned in the Quran. This article has come to the conclusion that this is not true, and on the contrary, there are other religions that may be part of "the People of the Book" whose names are not mentioned in the Quran, including Hinduism, and even if we do not accept this, at least Hinduism can be counted among "the ones who have pseudo-book". Hence, the second issue is: how close is Hinduism to the religions of "the People of the Book"? This study, after examining the teachings of Hinduism in the three fields of theology, revelation and prophethood, and eschatology, concludes that although the superficial shell of many myths and rituals of this religion is polytheistic and superstitious, there are deep and explicit monotheistic beliefs in its sacred texts and basic teachings. Also, contrary to popular belief, Hinduism does not deny divine revelation, but the belief in divine inspiration (Akashvani) is one of its important foundations. Of course, as for the Hereafter, Hinduism believes in reincarnation and is far from the view of other religions of "the People of the Book". However, the sacred texts of this religion explicitly refer to heaven (swargah), hell (naragah) and the Day of Judgment (mahapralyah), albeit from their own views. Therefore, we have finally come to the conclusion that this religion, based on the principles of the Imami sect, has the capacity to be included in the religions of "the People of the Book", or at least it is one of the religions of "the ones who have pseudo-book".

Believe in receiving the heavenly words (revelation) by certain people and emphasis on the guiding function of these words for humankind are the common doctrines of the numerous religions including Islam and Hinduism. According to the Hindu teachings, some of the Hindu sacred texts called Śruti and supposed to be taken from inspiration, revelation, and supersensible heavenly words are named as Ākāśavāṇī. In fact, inspiration in these texts does not mean that voices have come down and the selected prophets have heard them; but it is believed that with their spiritual conducts and soul sincerity, the clear-sighted wise and mystics called Ṛṣi could see the heavenly words which is manifested from the divine origin as reflections of the light of the Truth (God) in the mirror of their souls and then they could transfer these words to others through rendering them into divine Sanskrit language. Despite the similarity between the concepts of revelation and Ākāśavāṇī, the latter is closer to mystical intuition (rather than the Semitic revelation), due to lack of the doctrine prophethood and prophecy in Hinduism, as there is in the Semitic religions.